TeacherQuest

Leadership and
Professional Development

For more information, contact us at pd@instituteofplay.org

www.instituteofplay.org
 As the skills and knowledge required
TeacherQuest for our children to succeed in the 21st
century become increasingly complex,
is professional there is a profound shift underway that
changes the way teachers need to teach
development that and leaders need to lead, and raises the
critical questions:
empowers teachers How do we empower students to thrive
as designers, in our connected, increasingly digital
world? and
increases student How do we prepare teachers and leaders
to create this possibility for young people?
engagement, and
TeacherQuest tackles these important
re-imagines what challenges in education today with
the innovative Quest Learning Model,
teaching can be, created by Institute of Play and
through games and currently in action at the New York City
public school Quest to Learn and its
game-like learning. sister school ChicagoQuest.
Through a new set of professional
development tools and experiences from
Institute of Play, TeacherQuest develops
a learning community of teachers and
www.instituteofplay.org
school leaders who collaborate,
share, problem-solve, celebrate,
and innovate across sites. In
TeacherQuest, collaboration and
community are the keys to supporting
and sustaining innovation.
A driving force in the STEM to STEAM
movement, Institute of Play places
design at the center of teaching and
learning. Our approach is based on a
belief that games, game design and the
principles that underlie them have vital
roles to play in engaging 21st century
audiences, as well as in building critical
skills like systems thinking, creative
problem solving, collaboration, empathy
and innovation. We believe that games
and game design have unique relevance
as social tools to rebuild the foundations
of engaged citizenship. These beliefs are
grounded in recent educational research
and supported by experts, as well as by
important thinkers throughout the ages.
About TeacherQuest
TeacherQuest’s long-term goal
is to build a vibrant learning
community of teachers and school
leaders dedicated to innovation.
We are developing a multi-level
sequence for educator learning
and leadership development,
designed to spark changes
in practice and support a
lasting impact.
See TeacherQuest in Action:
vimeo.com/instituteofplay/
teacherquest
“Best class I’ve ever taken
(and I’ve been teaching over
20 years so that says a lot)!”
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Workshops
We believe that as a teacher, you
should engage in the types of learning
experiences that you want to bring to
your students. That’s why we put hands-
on inquiry at the center of our approach,
to situate learning in a meaningful and
practical context. Our workshops use:
• Hands-on design challenges for
you to learn by doing
• An embedded, practical approach
that ensures you will leave with
materials and practices that you can
use in your classroom
• An online community hub
and practice space to support
continued learning
• Curriculum that is highly
adaptable to different contexts,
which means that we can tailor it to
fit your needs
Resources
TeacherQuest workshops are based on
resources that have been developed and
tested in collaboration with teachers
and students at Quest to Learn and
ChicagoQuest. By participating in
TeacherQuest workshops, you will
have access to resources that are proven
to support the effective integration
of game-like learning, design thinking,
and systems thinking. These
resources include:
• Tools and materials that you can use
in your classroom
• Structures and practices to deploy
in your work with students and with
other educators
• Skilled facilitators who lead
professional development at Quest
schools as well as other schools and
programs nationwide
TeacherQuest Workshops
We offer three strands of
TeacherQuest workshops. We
recommend beginning with
Strands 1 and 2 as a 4.5 day-long
set of workshops. However, we can
tailor a workshop to run as short
as one 3-hour session. Please get
in touch to discuss your needs
and goals, and we will be happy to
propose a customized option for
your team.
“This was an amazing class
that will help you embolden
your students, increase their
interest, and keep them
engaged and excited about
learning.”
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Strand 1: Introduction
to Game Design &
Learning Games
Explore how games, game design and
game-like learning can change your
practice, by designing your own non-
digital games.
Game design has unique relevance
to teaching and learning. In the
Introduction to Game Design &
Learning Games strand, you will develop
an understanding of game design by
creating and modifying learning games
for your own classroom. This strand
focuses on designing non-digital games
for learning, in order to introduce you to
the core practices of the design process
and game-like learning.
Through a series of workshops
and design challenges, you will
apply design thinking skills and
practice collaboration through
design. Facilitator-led sessions
focus on practical methods that can
be implemented in any classroom,
including how to identify “game worthy”
learning goals; how to align learning
goals and game mechanics; and how
to “explode” a game into a larger set of
classroom experiences that maximize
the learning opportunities.
You will leave this strand with modified
and original games that you can use in
your classroom. Modified games include
a range of easily-available games,
including games from Institute of Play’s
classroom games library.
Strand 2: Digital Games & Strand 3: Game-like
Tools in the Classroom Unit Design
Create design challenges to engage
students in inquiry, discovery, and play
using games and technology
Technology has the power to create
engaging spaces where students can test
ideas, build worlds, and explore complex
problems. But it is often a challenge to
integrate technology in the classroom
effectively. The Digital Games & Tools in
the Classroom strand will focus on one
meaningful way to integrate technology
in the classroom: creating spaces for
students to make, tinker and play.
This strand will focus on how to create
design challenges in which students
learn through inquiry, play, iteration
and reflection. You will create your
own original or modified design
challenges that you can bring back to
your classroom.
We will explore digital games like
Dragonbox and Minecraft, as well as
other tools, which may include: Vernier
science probeware; user-friendly
programming platforms like Processing;
robotic toys like LEGO Mindstorms,
Sphero, and Little Bits; the Algodoo
gravity simulator; and the Google suite.
It is recommended that educators who
are new to games and learning begin
with our Introduction to Game Design &
Learning Games strand.
“I approached this class with
the hope of walking away with
a few games that would work
in the middle school setting.
But now I know that practically
any game can be used with
‘mods’... there are
no limitations!”
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Practice a new approach to curriculum
design by creating game-like units, where
students solve complex problems through
a series of challenges.
Game-like learning means that every
classroom experience achieves what
games do best, and creates inquiry-
based problem spaces where learning,
iteration, feedback and reflection
happen naturally. In the Game-like
Unit Design strand, you will learn
how to design curriculum in which
every unit feels like a game, using the
Quest Learning Model’s game-like
learning approach.
This strand will focus on how to
create project-based, challenge-based
curriculum that engages students with a
powerful need-to-know, as well as how
to use Quest tools and resources to apply
game-like learning to your curriculum
design process. Through a series of
workshops and design challenges, you
will design game-like units for your
own classroom.
This strand integrates the tools and
practices from the previous strands;
Strands 1 and 2 are prerequisite.
“In the past, I used games
mostly to review some
required vocabulary or
concepts. Now, I know how
I can use games to drive
learning, not just review what
should have been learned.”
TeacherQuest
Mentorship Program
A critical piece in the TeacherQuest
mission and vision, the Mentorship
Program builds capacity in school
leaders and educators to support
talent development within the
TeacherQuest community as well as
in other communities – such as their
own schools or professional learning
networks. Based on the work we have
done to develop leaders at the Quest
Schools, this program builds on the
other workshop strands to support
educators in becoming mentors in
the area of games and learning.
If you participate in any of our
workshops, you may be eligible for
the Mentorship Program.
“The instructors were
dynamic, engaging, and their
enthusiasm contagious.
My fellow classmates were
an exceptional group of
individuals. With everyone’s
support, I have no doubt that
I will continue learning and
developing as a teacher.”
About the Quest Learning Model

The Quest Learning Model brings together established

Learn More
learning research and the principles of game design
Visit Quest to Learn
to create a powerful, practical model for teaching and www.q2l.org
learning. In the Quest model, games and game design Visit ChicagoQuest
provide an organizing framework for an approach www.chicagoquest.org
Watch ‘Quest Learning in Action’
called game-like learning. www.vimeo.com/channels/qla

Developed by Institute of Play, the Quest model was Read ‘Developing Quest to Learn’
www.instituteofplay.org/work/projects/
first developed at New York City’s Quest to Learn, developing-quest-to-learn/
a 6th – 12th grade public school that opened to its Explore ‘Q Design Packs’
www.instituteofplay.org/work/projects/
first 6th grade class in 2009 and will operate as a full q-design-packs/
middle and high school in 2015. The model was then Visit us on Edutopia
applied to the creation of ChicagoQuest, a school in www.edutopia.org/made-with-play-
game-based-learning-resources
the Chicago International Charter School portfolio.
ChicagoQuest opened in Fall 2011 with both a 6th and
7th grade, and serves a diverse population of students
from across Chicago.

www.instituteofplay.org
About Institute of Play
Institute of Play is a not-for-profit design studio that
pioneers new models of learning and engagement. At
the core of the experiences we create are games, play
and the principles that underlie them. Using these
principles, we design experiences that make learning
irresistible, and unlock the transformative power of
people – as seekers and solvers of complex problems,
risk takers, inventors and visionaries.
Founded in 2007, our first project was the design and
implementation of the New York City public school,
Quest to Learn, which opened in 2009. Since then, we
have created successful institutions, games, programs,
events, digital platforms and products.
www.instituteofplay.org
In 2012, the Institute became a founding
partner in the launch of GlassLab, a
working game development studio in
San Francisco. GlassLab is exploring
the potential for digital games to serve
both as potent learning environments
and reliable real-time assessments of
student learning. GlassLab represents an
innovative partnership between Institute
of Play, EA, the Entertainment Software
Association, Educational Testing Service,
and Pearson’s Center for Digital Data,
Analytics & Adaptive Learning.
The Institute also supports ChicagoQuest,
a Title 1 school in Chicago.
For more information about Institute of
Play projects, programs, and resources,
visit us at www.instituteofplay.org.